REPORT: Merger Talks Between Hasbro And DreamWorks Are Over

Deadline reported this week that DreamWorks Animation and
Hasbro were in talks to create a combined family entertainment
company that would be called DreamWorks-Hasbro, and said the deal
is at least 60 days away from being finalized.

But
according to Variety, citing sources, those talks are now
over. The sources say that the reason the talks ended was because
of the unfavorable reception Wall Street gave the news on
Wednesday.

Analysts were wary of the possibility, saying that the
move made
little sense for Hasbro, among other concerns.

"We don't see a plausible argument for why HAS would pay 41% of
its current market capitalization for a company which, according
to its CEO is facing serious challenges," media analyst Vasily
Karasyov of Sterne Agee wrote. "Films profitability continues to
decline and the ramp in consumer product revenue the bulls hoped
for isn't coming: the revenue stream is down 21% so far in
2014."

Neither of the companies officially confirmed to Variety that the
talks ended.

This isn't the first time that DreamWorks merger talks ended
right after they began. In September, Japan's SoftBank was
rumored to be interested in purchasing the animation studio. But
talks apparently slowed down soon after.